Tim Allen Says He Was ‘Pigeonholed’ During Drug Arrest, Considered Ending Life

Tim Allen opened up about his legal troubles dating back to the 1970s when he served two years in prison on drug charges, claiming he was treated unfairly.

“It was just like in a freaking movie,” Allen, 72, told host Howie Mandel during the September 30 episode of his Howie Mandel Does Stuff podcast about being busted at an airport. “[The drugs were] in a locker. If you wanna get into the details of it, I was treated just as badly as people of color. I was pigeonholed because I was a light-skinned guy from an upper-middle class family.”

He went on to allege that police officers and Drug Enforcement Agents were “after” him.

“They wanted to make an example of me,” Allen continued. “So I went through a court system that my mother watched…she totally lost faith in the U.S. legal system”

When Mandel, 69, asked if he was “doing” or “selling” drugs, the Home Improvement alum referenced Scarface, “Don’t get greedy and don’t do your own stuff.”

He doubled down on the belief that his arrest was a “setup.”

“I didn’t have a pre-sentence report. Most of the situation — as I look at it — was a setup. I wouldn’t have any idea where to sell this amount [of drugs],” he recalled. “They needed a certain amount to be sold and the police set this up. The DEA did all the setup. It was predetermined what was going to happen to me way before I was in there.”

Allen was caught with more than 1.4 pounds of cocaine at the Kalamazoo/Battle Creek International Airport in Michigan in October 1978. In order to avoid a possible life sentence, the then-25-year-old pleaded guilty to felony drug trafficking, which he still maintains he “didn’t do.”

He ultimately served two years and four months in federal prison.

“[I made] horribly stupid jokes because I was in there going ‘I’m going to kill myself. I can’t deal with this,’” he told Mandel. “So I was going to kill myself and the comedy part of me goes, ‘OK, how are we going to do this?’ My comedy part is always funny at the weirdest times.”

As Allen seemingly made light of the topic, the Deal or No Deal host questioned, “But this was a serious consideration?”

“Yes. Because … at that point, it was called the Rockefeller Act. Anything over a certain amount was life in prison,” he said. “They wanted to stop drugs like they’re trying to do now by increasing the sentence or putting people in prison. It didn’t work then. You can’t make people not get high.”